


Saying Goodbye

by breadvolution



Series: Growing Up [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Break Up, First Love, First Time, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 08:54:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2726324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breadvolution/pseuds/breadvolution
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A cool breeze rustled the long blades of grass, moving leaves through the air and clouds across the sky. Fingers found and laced their way between each other until Ai and Rin were finally holding hands again, their palms locked tight against each other. As their world became quieter, they were subject to the inner voice and imagery of their own mind, and while Ai was able to wash away any unwanted thoughts in favour of listening to his surroundings, Rin found himself less capable of fighting off his worries. His mind became obsessed with losing Ai.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saying Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to everyone who left kudos and comments on the first fic, [Growing Up](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1051303)! They were really encouraging. I decided to keep the story going (obviously) after a short deliberation last year because, truth be told, i love writing these two baes. Unlike the first fic, Momo and sousuke are making an appearance! Having started the story back in January '14, there was a lot of trouble that went into inserting them into the story but.. I feel like they belonged there from the very start.
> 
> Like the first fic (which might be good to read for context!), there might be more to come, however, the story reaches closure by the third part.

Ai had come to know Rin's face better than he knew how to breathe, so consequently, when Rin softened his face and looked at Ai in a particular way, Ai often found he fell short of breath.  Those looks were sparse, like moles along your arm, and the feeling that they left in Ai were just as permanent. He knew Rin's neutral expression, a sort of sour look filled with judgement. While it was a little scary, Rin's angry face was much scarier, and infuriated Rin was more ferocious than a mother bear dealing with the loss of her cub. He couldn't really be asked to laugh more, either, because he would defend himself and claimed he laughed plenty. Occasionally though, Ai found, Rin did smile sweetly, but he only ever saw those looks in the dark, when Rin believed they were hidden under shadow.  And it took time for Ai to recognize it, because it didn't look much different than when he was sad. His eyes drooped, and his lips were flat, and his brows seemed to slip around his eyes pitifully.  
  
The difference was the way his eyes lifted and blinked at him.  Like a cat, Rin seemed to be on high alert most of the time, and he rarely blinked. But as they laid in between the sheets, their naked torsos exposed to one another, Rin accepted Ai's presence. Rin welcomed it. After they would touch each other to exhaustion, Rin wanted little more than to rest his arm around Ai and keep him near as he could. Ai would curl into Rin's body, normally letting Rin clean up the excess mess; Rin didn't complain, so Ai never changed his lazy habit. Ai would fall asleep quickly and snored like he had a permanent cold. Rin only realized Ai's snoring habit after sleeping together more and more, for it was quiet enough to never be heard in the bed above. Rin never slept so quickly, and entertained himself with the details of Ai's body. He brushed his fingers over Ai's silvery hair, admiring its fineness and impressed with how soft it was. His finger would trace down Ai's jaw and mark lines between each mole that scattered across Ai's skin. He thought of it like "connect the dots," but really, he just liked running his fingers over Ai's body. Looking at Ai, with his soft hair, soft complexion, and softest of all his personality, was the best lullaby to coax Rin into sleep. Some nights, however, he would wake Ai with loud, heavy snoring, for he was not like Ai, and most of what he did was rough and brash.  
  
Sousuke and Momo, who had been roomed together with a certain reluctance from Sousuke, often piled into Rin and Ai’s room to talk, but when Rin declared that he would go to get some soda, Momo jumped on the opportunity to watch his senpai in action – not that there was much action to speak of while getting soda. Sousuke offered to stay, leaving Ai awkwardly with his senior, whom terrified him in many ways. Sousuke was large, dark, swift; his eyes abrasive in their neutral state. Ai wanted to speak, but found the passiveness from Sousuke overwhelming and held his breath.  
  
And then he smiled: "don’t look so tense, Nitori."  
  
"S..sorry, Yamazaki-senpai! I ran out of things to say, I think." Which wasn’t wholly true. He desired to know more about his boyfriend’s best friend; he had a sea of questions to ask, but something about the other scared him. Sousuke stared for a long time, looking at the nervous gray haired boy with sharp eyes. For a while now he had some kind of inkling about the two roommates. Ai seemed… important to Rin than Sousuke would have imagined, and they seem strangely close for two people so unalike; Sousuke remembered seeing the young gray haired boy a year ago chasing after Rin, shouting out his name: Matsuoka-senpai. Sousuke thought little of him at the time, and mostly of Rin, who seemed so broken. But these days, Ai preoccupied a special corner of his mind. Rin had picked living with Ai a second year over moving in with Sousuke, and he had been sure that Rin would agree to room together when he asked. In the year that they were together, how could one not wonder. What made Ai so special to Rin? Sousuke stared across, thinking.  
  
"Nitori, I want to be forward with you."  
  
Ai’s head lifted quickly, looking with big eyes at Sousuke. "Is it bad?"  
  
"If you want to look at it like that: sure. The way your breaststroke is now, you’ll never make it to regionals, you know. You’d be better off not getting in the water." He watches as insulted horror fills the younger swimmers eyes, and he doesn’t care. He lets that reality sink into Ai for a moment, knowing his words were harsh. "If you want, I can fix your stroke. Meet with me tonight at the pool and we’ll talk. Don’t tell Rin." He stands up, and starts to head out.  
  
"W..wait, Yamazaki-senpai! Hold on a moment, please!" The large swimmer turned back toward Ai, and Ai stared. Sousuke’s gloom was intoxicating. "Why? …Why are you offering?"  
  
"You did something for Rin. I want to pay you back for it." He turned away, flicking his wrist, and added: "Tell Rin I had to go do something!" He headed down the halls, opposite of the direction Rin and Momo left and would eventually return. When the two of them came back, Momo juggles an armful of different sodas; Rin looks around trying to figure out where his best friend had disappeared to.  
  
"Eh? Yamazak-senpai ran off and I got all three of his favourite sodas!"  
  
"Momo, you got his one favourite and your two favourite, don’t pull that shit." He turned toward Ai then and adds: "You scare Sousuke off?"  
  
"I.. I don’t know. He said he had to do something." Timidly he shrinks. The two other boys shared a frown at Ai’s sudden, submissive state.  
  
But as requested, Ai showed up at the pool, holding his duck duffle bag on his arm. He wasn't a noisy boy, so when he stepped into the pool room to greet Sousuke, the older boy didn’t notice him intitially. There was something… always very strange about him, come to think of it. Ai rarely spoke with him in the few months that Sousuke had first come to the school. He seemed more interested in Rin, Ai thought, and he seemed darker, scarier. Sometimes Sousuke reminded Ai of the things that you would see in deep water; both beautiful and terrifying creatures that haunted the sun abandoned depth of the ocean. He made Ai’s heart feel cold and stiff; but now it just felt cold. Sousuke stood over the edge of the pool, staring down at the shallow depth of the water. He touched his shoulder, turning it, cracking it, and then simply held it, every now and then rubbing it. His eyes were soft, lost; it looked like homesickness. Something was not well with his senior.  
  
Once he approached further, his foot fell into a pool of water, alerting Sousuke of his presence, and the pads of his feet slapped the ground the rest of the way. "…Yamazaki-senpai, is everything alright?"  
  
"Yes." He lied the exact same way Rin did. Pain washed over Ai’s expression, but Sousuke didn’t accept the look. Fierceness replaced longing eyes. "I’m not an easy teacher, so I hope you’re ready to work out. Go get changed and I’ll observe your stroke first. We’ll work from there."  
  
Hesitatingly, Ai burst into a smile. "Alright! I’ll be just a minute." If Sousuke wasn’t going to talk about it himself, he thought, then he was like Rin in that way, also. Rin would talk about it when he was ready. Otherwise, there was no getting through to him. After a long practice, Ai soon crawled into bed with his beloved senior, and was asleep before Rin could even ask where he had gone.  
  
Sousuke was stunningly helpful in the time that he taught Ai. A good coach, Ai thought. Direct, supportive, forward; he had a lot of the same amazing qualities that Rin had that made him someone Ai admired so much. Of course, Ai loved Rin for other reasons, but the same strange admiration that drove their friendship just as well would have lead Sousuke and Ai to become very close; or at least, that’s what the younger thought. But there was always something very strange about him, an awkward distance. Ai didn’t believe that something was all right with Sousuke, and he wanted to desperately to ask the other about it, but he never had the courage to.  
  
Sneaking into the other room, he checked the bottom bunk for Sousuke, and then hissed: "Momo-kun!"  
  
The young man bolted up right, making Ai jump, and turned toward his senior. "Nitori-senpai! Ah… Were you looking for Yamazaki-senpai?" But Ai waggled his head very quickly.  
  
"No, I wanted to ask you about something. Could you come down a moment?" Ai turned around as Momo scrambled down the ladder and quietly closed the door. When Ai turned back, Momo looked as eager and willing as ever, something that, though Ai found exhausting, did also appreciate.  
  
"What is it?! Did you want advice for picking up girls?! Or maybe bug catching?! Oh! Or were you looking for someone to go with to the new AQUATIC museum that opened up down the street? Or maybe-" And then Ai remembered that Momo was mostly exhausting.  
  
"Momo-kun, please slow down for a moment! It’s nothing like that. I was hoping to ask about Yamazaki-senpai."  
  
"Huh? What about him?"  
  
"Just… if you know anything about him, that’s all. Like… what does he do?"  
  
Momo looked perplexed. "He does what everyone else does! Studies and swims! Oh, but he REALLY likes to skateboard, I think. He said he’s going to teach me how to do it!!!" But again, Ai was shaking his head. Nothing Momo said was helping him understand the young, strange, stoic man.  
  
"No, no, I… nevermind. I’m sorry, I thought perhaps since you roomed with him you might know something."  
  
"Do you think that something’s wrong? …Ah! I bet Rin-senpai would know the answer!"  
  
"I don’t think he does. I mentioned before that Yamazaki-senpai always seems sad, but Rin says that’s just how he is, but I think it’s different than what he thinks." Only belatedly, and nervously at that, does Ai realize he had forgotten honorifics, but if Momo noticed or not seems lost in a universally perplexed expression.  
  
"Oh!! Then the only way to figure out what’s wrong with him is to ask him yourself, isn’t it?!"  
  
"Huh? I can’t just do that!"  
  
"Nonsense!! Think about it. The best place to get information is from the source itself. Honesty is the best policy, and being forward about things is always going to get you what you want!!" He smiles brightly, and then humbled again: "Or, that’s what my brother always says. You should always shoot for your goals with conviction."  
  
Momo looked stunningly charming like that, his long figure laughing easily as he rattled off sound philosophy. Ai admired that about him as well, realizing that he was surrounded by people so much greater than he was, and wishing that he could be like all of them. To be forward about the things that you want… Momo took charge and demanded attention. Sousuke was direct and honest. Isn't that also how Rin and he fell in love? Rin was forward with his feelings in ways Ai could never succeed. He thought in confusion of this revelation, distracted until-  "Is there a reason you’re so worried about him?" Momo looked concerned again for Ai, head cocked.  
  
"Ah! N..no, no! I was just wondering. Please don’t tell him, though, that I was asking about him! Or to Rin-senpai for that matter."  
  
Momo draws a finger over his lips, grinning like a fool. "Secret safe with me, senpai! Or my name’s not Momotarou."  
  
During evening practices with Sousuke, Ai thought several times to ask him, but for nights and nights he never knew how to broach the subject. At best, he opened his mouth to make a sound, Sousuke would turn back, and then Ai would excuse himself with a cough, or dismiss what he wished to say without questioning. Instead, each time he failed, he was left wringing his swimcap in  a vice grip. Maybe it would be better to ask Rin, he would think, instead of troubling Sousuke about it.  
  
"Yamazaki-senpai! Wait a moment," he called out eventually, and Sousuke turned slowly to look at him. "I… I have a question for you. Can we talk after I get changed?"  
  
"…Sure. I'm going to wait on the steps, I need a breath of fresh air." Ai nodded eagerly, glad that Sousuke was willing to wait for him, hurried into the locker rooms,  changed as fast as he could (and nearly knocking himself over in his eagerness) and headed out of the pool house. When Ai came outside again, Sousuke seemed to be admiring the stars.  
  
The tall man turned around slowly, left arm reaching out and settling on the ground behind as he turned to support his twist, and for a moment they stared. "So?" Sousuke asked after Ai seemed to offer no new words. He stood up slowly, pocketing his fists and looking at Ai. "You had me wait ten minutes."  
  
"Sorry, I thought it was weird to ask while I was getting dressed." He hesitated a moment longer. "Yamazaki-senpai… I'm sorry if… this is being to forward but it's been bothering me for some time now. A lot of what you do seems to be… very much like Rin-senpai would do when I first met him, and I was worried that, since you and Rin-senpai were so much alike, that perhaps you might still be alike in other ways, also. But…" He lifts his eyes, anxiously, shoulders shrinking up against his neck, his chin burying into the collar of his hoodie. He felt silly for giving such a dumb exposition, but it helped ease him into the awkward question. "When he's sad, he doesn't like to talk about the things that are sad for him. You don't talk very much either, I know, but you seem to have the same distance that he used to have. Is… something making you sad, Yamazaki-senpai?"  
  
Ai watched in the cool midnight as a pair of faded whites grew just a little wider. Sousuke seemed to straighten up in surprise, and like Rin, he looks away, but only with his eyes. Ai didn't think that Rin and Sousuke were completely alike; he also thought that Sousuke and Rin were very different also. Rin would have turned his head fully; he would have wanted to avoid the subject entirely. Sousuke was much more forward than that.  
  
"It's not your business," he answered finally, and started to head back toward the dorms.  
  
"No! Please, wait!!!" Ai reached out, grabbing Sousuke's shirt, and stopped him. He thought that Sousuke might hurt him with the sharp turn, but he didn't. Fierce eyes glared holes into Ai, painful silence bit at his ears, but after a moment, Ai found strange courage inside of him, returning a small fierceness. "Please, Yamazaki-senpai. If something hurts you, I think it would be better to talk about it, than to hide it. Rin-senpai doesn't know, either, right? A-and I know how close you both are, so I know it has to be hard to talk about, but you shouldn't walk around with burdens all by yourself." His words seemed to work, and the fierceness relaxed, and he looked like himself.  
  
"I'm quitting swimming," he said after a long pause, but this answer is not what Ai expected of him. Shock welled up in the young man's eyes as he stared up at Sousuke, his fingers loosened their grip on Sousuke's jacket. His lips and eyes formed a question that he didn't know how to approach. "Do you want to hear the whole story?"  
  
"I…"  
  
"Let go." And so Ai did. "Sit down." He felt like he was hypnotized, as every command that Sousuke offered begged to be followed without question, and Ai had no problem with that. Soon the tall man sat beside him, and he stared out on campus. "When I was younger, I wanted to swim with Rin. If I trained harder, I could join him in the Olympics. But I went about it wrong. I tore my shoulder overworking it, and never took the proper time to let it heal. By the time I realized something was wrong, it was too late. I can't let Rin know I did something that stupid for him." Sousuke sighs, his head bowing. "Rin can't have everything in his life fall behind trying to keep up with him. He needs people with him to succeed."  
  
Sousuke straightened up then, looking intensely at Ai. "What makes you so special to Rin?"  
  
"Huh?" At first he felt confused, but shock and embarrassment filled him. Did Sousuke know something? Rin had swore he never told anyone about them, and had no plans to for Ai's sake. But before Ai could ascertain what his senior ment, Sousuke stood up then. "Wait! You can't leave. What do you mean?"  
  
"Think about it." He pauses. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, so if you want to join me on the way back, never breathe a word of it again. That means not telling Rin, either."  
  
"R…right. I would like to walk with you, Yamazaki-senpai!"  
  
"C'mon. Tell me about yourself, Ai." Ai's cheeks colored when it hits him that Sousuke had spoken to him so informally then.  
  
Sousuke’s early intervention upon Ai’s awful breaststroke lead to his ultimate success in prefectural. He seemed to smile as the boy jumped for joy at the end of the pool. Momo leaned over the rails and screamed out his cheer for his senior (Sousuke was careful to grab the back of Momo's shirt to keep him from falling off,) and Ai and Momo both flailed at each other excitedly. Nagisa leapt across the pool lane to wrap the downy haired boy into a tight hug. Rin smiled privately, and Sousuke stared for a time at the young man he had trained before parting a glance at Rin; still his expression remained stony. Still, Ai wasn’t fast enough to beat their top swimmer, and it would take time yet for him to join the relay, but he was already fast on his way. "Gonna’ go congratulate him," Rin announced, then turned to Sousuke. "Keep them in order, huh?" He says with a smirk as he gestures toward the team.  
  
Sousuke nodded, and watched his best friend part from the group, eyes observant and knowing.  
  
Their grades slipped as time went on, and Ai bemoaned every assignment more and more as he went along. Rin still chided him for his messy desk, but together they managed to keep it at least organized. Whether or not it looked cleaner, however, didn't change how often Ai would lose things on it; he still put pens in the wrong drawer, or set books in dumb places where he couldn't find them. Rin never stopped groaning at Ai when he would panic while searching the desk. It didn't bother Rin nearly as much as he led on. When they had much work to do for school, it meant Rin rarely got to touch him. So if Ai lost something, Rin would approach, setting a hand on his boyfriend gently, and take the item that was missing to show Ai. He always moved slowly for this, because it made it easier to rub Ai's back a little bit as he did, and touch a bit of the bare skin around his neck. It kept happening, and Rin began to wonder out loud if Ai did it on purpose. Ai would never admit to anything.  
  
Ai ran his fingers through his hair, distressed, each lock of hair flaring out in a mass of stress. "Ahhhh, if my test doesn't kill me, my parents will at this rate." He moaned and let his head fall onto his homework and rolled it across the paper. Rin stalked about the room, trying to figure out where Ai had thrown his shirt when he had teased Rin into a ‘quickie’ after swim practice. Ai had a habit of losing at least one article of clothing each time they got intimate, and Rin’s wardrobe suffered the worst; socks were becoming a concern, as well.  
  
"I still don't get why your parents expect you to get top marks," he grumbled, searching between the mattress and wall. "It's stupid if you ask me.  If you're not good at something, you're not good at it. No one's good at everything."  
  
Lifting his head, Ai sighed as he looked guilty at Rin. "I know. They just… They're very concerned with my having good grades for university.  It's not like they don't have my best interest in mind or anything."  
  
"I wouldn't believe it for a minute," Rin interrupted. Ai turns more towards him, a little surprised. Rin turned away, looking at his homework, idly making marks in the margins, voice stemming with anger. "They've run you ragged at this point. I don't see how that's having your best interest in mind. Sounds like they couldn't give two shits about what you want. I mean, you won't die if you're kind of crappy at English, right?" He fell into his seat and surveyed Ai.  
  
Ai sighed. "You've said as much before, senpai…" he cast his gaze away from his boyfriend and back onto the paper; he jumps slightly and rubs the paper. He probably should have considered his forehead would leave a mark on the paper when he rested it there. Rin watched, and let out a subdued chuckle. Ai gave up, shoving his homework away and throwing his hands into his lap. "I don't think they would ever see it like that, though. We don't… see a lot of things the same."  
  
"Tough parents?"  
  
"I've… n-never told you about my parents, have I? Aside about school right?"  
  
"Hardly."  
  
Ai stared a long time forward, though he certainly wasn't looking at his homework at this point. Rin crossed his legs in his chair and turned to watch Ai. Ai's pencil dropped from his fingers, clicking on the table as Ai straightened up. "They're kind of more than just tough, I guess. I don't really know them all that well. Mom's is a business woman, and she travels all over the world, and Dad goes with her – well, my father is a business man, too, but she has a higher rank in their business. Normally he wouldn't travel at all but… he's very fond of mother. I guess I haven't really lived a bad life, but it's been pretty lonely. They're okay, just… never around. I can't… really relate to them at all, either." He refused to look Rin in the eyes as he spoke, and sighed gently. There was probably more behind his personal relationship with his parents than he was saying. Continuing, his voice became quiet. "I came to Samezuka not just to join the swim club, but I figured it would be a lot more fun to live away from home, instead of just staying at home alone all the time. I don't… really have a lot of friends in my hometown either.  
  
"I, uh, I'm sort of afraid of them, too. They say nasty things about all sorts of different kinds of people. It's not very in your face, but eventually you start to see a trend and you've got to wonder if they're a little… prejudice, I guess? That's probably not the word I want, but to put it simply, if I don't get a good education, then I'm just going to be poor and live in filth forever. I…it's silly, but I can't really go back on what they say either. They're my parents, they just want me to live happily."  
  
As he spoke, he eventually drew his knees over his chest, upset. "I don't… actually know how well they would take to me telling them I'm dating a guy right now. I'm sure they'd hate you without a second thought. Even if I said you were aspiring to become an Olympic athlete, it just doesn't seem like something they'd accept. …I'm sure I'd be reroomed, too, if they ever knew. Or just flat out removed from the school." Air rushed past his lips; it was clear this was something that lingered on his mind often. "I don't really want to go back there."  
  
Rin stared at him plainly, the closest his grumpy expression could offer sympathy with. His eye turned away, he clicked his tongue against his teeth, and he half spat at the notion. "What a load of shit." Ai was too sweet to have shitty parents, and it bothered Rin to think that Ai could be allowed to have anything less than a normal and happy life. It bothered him as a friend – as someone who cherished Ai's companionship because Ai had fought so hard to be his friend. Someone who tries that hard for goodness in other people's lives deserved goodness in their own. He turned in his chair and stood up again, wandering aimlessly around the room, cleaning up articles of clothing that still remained on the floor, and sighed lamely as he did. Ai returned only belatedly to his homework, a little less focused than he was before.  
  
"You should come visit my family," Rin announced abruptly, not looking at Ai as he spoke. Ai lifted his head.  
  
"What makes you say that?"  
   
"…You should probably meet my mom. I, uh… I haven't really mentioned anything about you to her before, except that we're roommates. You ought to meet before I, uh, make any big announcements."  
  
"O-oh!" Ai stiffened, his back felt as rigid and cold as an icicle. He'd break like one too, if touched the wrong way. He looked away quickly, and Rin turned to see Ai had become nervous all at once. Rin couldn't blame him. Ai never had the support of a mother or father by means of love or care; even if Rin had confidence that his own mother wouldn't mind them dating, Ai wasn't used to that sort of response. Ai accustomed himself to judgement and reprimanding. Rin's eyes softened with sadness, but the same overwhelming love he had for Ai filtered away the bulk of it. Moving towards Ai, he set a hand on Ai's chin and turned his boyfriend's head to look at him.  
  
"Hey. Chill. You're, uh… She'll like you, alright? You should know what a decent mom is like, at least. She didn’t win gold at the Mom Olympics, but she's not bad." Even if Ai smiled, his head turned away again from Rin, and that was enough prove that Ai wasn't sure he could, just like that, believe Rin. Though… Ai wanted to believe him, Rin thought. "Oi" Rin barked. "Enough with that face, I mean it alright? Just think of her like Gou only shorter."  
  
"Kou-chan can be pretty scary," Ai chuckled, and Rin frowned.  
  
But a smirked slinked onto his face. "So can her brother, but you've jumped straight into the arms of the beast, didn't you?"  
  
Ai blushed as he laughed. "You're not all that scary, senpai." Rin's hand moved into his hair fondly, and he smirked and teased Ai: "Yeah right." He leaned over and kissed Ai on the cheek. "I'm going to bed, make sure the lights are out."  
  
"Okay! …When do you suppose I'd have to meet your mom?"  
  
"I dunno," Rin grumbled as he pulled himself into bed, throwing his book on the floor. "I'll give you a warning in advanced. Try not to explode thinking about it." Rin turned his back to Ai. A little longer Ai stayed awake to finish his homework, and then spent a few minutes contemplating where he would sleep that night. Rin snored audibly as Ai thoughtfully hummed.  
  
A week later came regionals, and Rin had never seen Ai in such a buzz. He never stopped talking about how excited he was, and as the day that they boarded the bus drew nearer, so did his fears - and his chatter. "What if I jump off the block too soon??" "What would I do if my goggles popped off?" "Ahh, I hope I don't miss the flip turns like I did last week! How embarrassing." Rin groaned, and assured him he'd be fine and that he should calm the fuck down – such astounding mild-temperedness and hard hearted support, however, was not enough to settle him. One very coarse chiding, on the other hand, was, as Rin proved unintentionally when his irritation made him snap at his boyfriend. Ai was startled by Rin's rough tone to say the least, no longer used to it like he once was, but he simmered down. Rin eventually apologized for yelling, and after that they were both able to work up equal amounts of enthusiasm.  
  
Standing outside the bus, Ai received a wave of attention from his teammates. "Nitori-senpai!!!" Momo cried out, "We both have to do our absolute best in our races so that we can make it to nationals together, okay?!" Ai laughed in such a way that Rin could tell he never thought he would make it as far as nationals. Things were different now, though, and Rin found that Ai’s self-doubt was unnecessary; anyone could do anything if they put their mind to it. Nervous laughter aside, he told Momo it was better not to get his hopes too high up, and just to try their very best no matter what.  
  
Sousuke, beside Rin, looked stiff however, and Rin cocked his brow at the taller swimmer. "You okay?" he tried, but Sousuke dismissed it regularly. No use getting through to him, Rin thought. Momo soon came bounding over to him next.  
  
"Riiiiiiin-senpai, Nitori-senpai said it was okay that I sit with you on the bus, please let me sit with you!!"  
  
"I-I never said that, Momo-kun!" Ai stuttered from behind.  
  
"Please, let me sit with you! Pleeaaasse, senpai! Rin-senpaaiiiii!!!!"  
  
"Ai’s sitting with me and that's final! Go get to know Sousuke, you’re swimming with him in the relay, after all, dingus."  
  
Momo’s audible groans made the stiff Sousuke frown: "I’m not that bad to sit with." A chuckle was shared between Rin and Ai.  
  
However, Rin could only try to sit with Ai, -and he really did try,- but early mornings were not his favourite, and he excused himself quietly, sparing himself the vibrant enthusiasm of one intolerable Mikoshiba, leaving his bag behind as well figuring the conversation had to die down eventually and he'd return. He sat up front instead, among the snoring passengers, and played his music player on high. He didn't even hear Ai sit down beside him an hour later.  
  
When something settled on his thigh, he jumped, turning his head and pulling the ear phones away. "Do you have your headsets on so loud you can't hear, senpai?" Ai's hand stayed quietly where it was for a moment – a little voice in the back of his head reminded him how he liked when Ai's hand settled there.  
  
"Er, yeah; sorry. Was there something you needed? Who’s watching our bags?"  
  
"Don’t worry about it," he said, shaking his head, "it’s fine. And Yamazaki-senpai said he would watch our things." Rin didn't believe that it was nothing, though. Ai seemed to frown more and more lately, and Rin tried often to tell himself that it wasn’t a fault that lie in him, but more likely what they had talked about a week ago -Ai's parents. With that much burdening Ai's mind, Rin figured he at least owed it to his boyfriend to give him all the attention he deserved. It was the little things that counted, right? Rin's expression remained plain, glancing beyond Ai to look at the seats visible where they sat. All the students were fast asleep, by the looks of it. He reached his hand out, taking Ai's hand and squeezing it tightly. He doubted anyone would notice something like that.  
  
Ai sweetly smiled, eyes glistening against the afternoon sun. He wasn’t bothered that Rin hadn’t heard him, despite what Rin thought. He was simply glad he paid attention now. But he heard a sound, and quickly pulled his hand way, looking straight forward and blushing red as a fire truck, and all with the same urgency. He was still conscious not to be found out by the school, and honestly, anyone was a risk. Hating it, but knowing it was necessary, he dipped his head and remained silent. Rin watched him, and looked away. Ogling the boyfriend no one was supposed to know about would just arouse suspicion. He pressed his chin against his wrist and stared out the window.  
  
That was until his phone went off, and he checked it. I wish I could kiss you TnT, it read. He didn’t even have to look the number to know who had written it. To his right, Ai appeared to be avoiding suspicion, looking innocently to his own right in turn, his nose turned up a little. His eyes, however, stole a glance. Rin smirked. He tapped the textbox below the message, and responded.  
  
There's always the hotel.  
  
That's still so far away!! :(  - Ai sighed before he sent the text, and Rin glanced at him once he received it. They exchanged glances, and Ai typed again. Your hands were warm at least.  
  
In case you didn’t know, yours are always winter cold.  
  
It's not that bad!! And it does make holding your hand really nice.  
  
Corny. 3/10. Rin smirked out of Ai's sight, and watched with an amused smile as Ai pursed his lips and wrinkled his nose at the text. After a moment, however, Rin continued: I want to kiss you too.  
  
And without Ai's response, he added another text. With tongue.  
  
Rin prepared the third in a sequence of texts, but waited to send it. It was only when he saw the tips of Ai's ears burn red that he pressed send. Preferably along the nipple. Ai's whole face went red when he received the final text, turning toward him with hushed fluster: "Senpai!!"  
  
They went on like this, however, shooting flirting texts back and forth between them, and as much as it was a game, it was all they could do to entertain a desire to touch. Once Rin leaned over, trying to watch as Ai fumbled with a good response, but the last thing he saw was 'I could run my hand u' before Ai caught him, pulling his phone to his chest, blushing and smiling as he tried to chide Rin for looking. Rin smirked, and the response Ai had before changed. 'You owe me for peeking!! (｀_っ´) ' Rin loved the way Ai would flirt with carefully crafted innuendo and more so, he loved Ai's persisted innocence against Rin's more vulgar hints. Ai always left more to the imagination.  
  
It was at Rin's suggestion they stop, aroused but not uncontrolled. People began to wake up as they neared the destination, and Rin was sure if someone (somehow) realized they both "happened" to be aroused at the same time, things would get weird fast. Though, by the time people started bothering them again, nothing more could be assumed than their usual closeness. Just roommates sharing the same set of seats. Rin tossed Ai's bag to him as they unloaded the bottom of the bus.  
  
Rin stood in front of the group once inside of the hotel, giving off his usual orders as was expected of him as captain. It seemed strange, Ai thought, that his boyfriend had become captain of the team, but he was glad for it also. He could see that the leadership was changing him; he became supportive, communicative, and dare he say, easier to get along with. Though Rin griped at first, Seijuuro had made the right decision. A lot of the time, Ai had to keep his head down a little more than usual to hide his smile.  
  
After Rin dismissed them, Momo was quick to press himself up against Ai. "Nitori-senpai! Whatcha' thinking about? Oh, lemme guess: is it a funny joke?"  
  
"Huh? W-what do you mean, Momo-kun?"  
  
"You kept smiling like you're trying to hide something!"  
  
"Er, no! It's nothing interesting. I wasn't really thinking of anything at all if I'm honest." He laughed the laugh of a dishonest man.  
  
"Nitori-senpaiii," Momo groaned, but a heavy hand fell on his head, and both of them looked up in alarm. Sousuke had approached.  
  
"Leave him alone. If he's got something to hide, maybe he'd prefer it that way."  
  
"Ugghhh, Yamazaki-senpai, you're ruining all the fun like that! Secrets are meant to be shared! It builds bonds! And shows trust! Here, I'll tell you a secret, but you have to promise absolutely that you tell NO one." Sousuke glanced to Ai, as if he needed affirmation to go along with this strange ritual, and Ai, confused as his friend, shrugged. What could go wrong? So Sousuke bent over, cocked an eyebrow lamely as Momo pressed his hand and mouth close to Sousuke's ear, and straightened up again when the secret was shared. Ai felt strangely awkward, realizing that a secret was being said in front of him that he couldn’t take part in.  
  
"Well?" Momo said with shining enthusiasm. "Do you feel the building bonds between us now, senpai?"  
  
For a long time, Sousuke stared at Momo, deducing his feelings about the secret he'd just been told. His hand tapped his chin, he thinks about it as if questioning the heavens of his feelings. He looks down as if questioning his heart. He looks at Momo as if questioning his mind. Then, after a moment, he looks at Ai, and answers: "Momo ate wasabi once and cried in front of a girl."  
  
"Yamazaki-senpai!"  
  
"Secrets are meant to be kept until they're ready to be said. It's why they're secrets. Besides, the wasabi thing makes a good story," he chuckles softly, and Ai couldn't help but laugh to the side.  
  
"What are you guys talking about?" came a third voice, Rin soon approaching the group. He glanced at each of them in turn.  
  
"Momo-kun and Sousuke-senpai were discussing secrets, and if they should be kept or not."  
  
"What do you think, Rin-senpai?" Momo chimed in, but the red head only shrugged in answer.  
  
"To each their own, I guess, who gives a shit? Enough of that though, I'm starved, you guys want to head out together?" Ai wondered. Rin was an honest person now, he thought, and wondered if he said it for his past, or for his present.  
  
It was already late enough to turn in, but not so late that they couldn't grab a bite to eat.  'Don't eat so much that you cant move later, senpai!!' Ai texted him on route to the restaurant. Rin had to wonder what Ai meant when he sent the text, but only received ':)' when he asked. Rin should have figured what he was getting at from the get go, and shook his head with a laugh.  
  
No one followed them to their room after they ate. Ai glanced behind them and noted out loud that they must not be with the rest of the group. "Yeah, well," Rin responded, "who do you think ordered the hotel rooms?" His words were punctuated by a glance at Ai, where he smiled at his boyfriend, and the silver haired boy blushed and laughed, knocking their shoulders together. Everyone had already brought their bags into their rooms before heading out to eat, and so once inside of the room, Rin quickly began moving around, throwing his pants off and grabbing his tooth brush. He took free reign of the bathroom while Ai moseyed more slowly about, turning on the TV to stare mindlessly at a cartoon before moving on to wash up for the evening.  
  
When Ai came back into the room, Rin was sitting on one of the beds, only half paying attention to the cartoon playing, and turned readily to see Ai as he moved across the room. "So," Rin asked as Ai pressed a delicate finger over the off button, "we sleeping now or later?"  
  
Ai approached him even closer, and Rin instinctively slid back on the bed until his knees hooked at the edge. Arms stretched out over his shoulders as Ai crawled into his lap, the young man's knees digging into the mattress as he made himself comfortable. Their lips locked before Rin received any kind of answer. Ai pressed his tongue against his boyfriend's lips and, when Rin's mouth was opened, swept his tongue around his mouth, and tickled Rin's tongue with his own. When he pulled away, saliva trailing between their lips, Ai smiled, his eyes tender with arousal. "Is later okay?" One hand cupped Rin's chin, which soon drifted down, his fingers trailed the front of Rin's shirt, lingering over his breast, and for a moment Rin wanted only to watch the promiscuous shimmer in his lover's eyes.  
  
Rin’s lips curled to match his boyfriend's: "I’m sure we have time," he whispered. Ai hummed in pleasure, pressing his lips back on Rin's until they were on the bed together. Nothing new, but everything felt as good as it always did. Rin moaned as he always did, fingers entangled with the sheets as Ai grinded their dicks together. His hair cascaded behind his head as his back arched. Between breaths he could easily moan his boyfriend's name.  
  
Mornings were never glamorous between them, and while Ai had a little more pep in the morning, Rin was always like a bear crawling out of its den in spring. When he lumbered in, Ai turned, pulling his toothbrush out of his mouth, and smiled. Rin barely had his eyes open, leaned in to kiss Ai, tried to slip his tongue in for his usual good morning kiss, and then pulled back fiercely, his face disgusted and suddenly wide awake. Ai was no less surprised, and then tipping his head, coyly simpering with closed mouth, waved his toothbrush that ran thick with froth.  
  
"Fuck!"  At least he was awake now. They hurried into their clothes and hurried down stairs, the last from the team to make it to the main lobby. Quickly Rin began the morning meeting, apologizing for his lateness and asking that everyone order up for a last prep before they walked to the building. He found himself a little amazed at Rin's readiness to lead, and as always it made him smile, but no one bothered him for it. After that, as they walked down the road, Rin seemed to be stopping by various players to talk to them about their scores, and Ai stayed quietly in back. Momo seemed to have picked other boys to wrestle with, and Sousuke lead the group. At the very front.  
  
As he covertly observed his boyfriend, his thoughts eventually drifted away from Rin's motives to admiring his features. Rin was, in Ai's opinion, devilishly handsome. His nose was large and pointed, his chin sharp and small. He had a big mouth, thin lips, and behind his lips rested his sharp teeth -his canines looked terrifying with the right smile. He kept his eyes at half-mast nearly all the time, as if bored, which hardly took away from his physique. Something about Rin's passive gaze made any change in his expression illuminate him. Red hair scooped down past his jaw line, a jawline which, like the rest of him, looked like it would cut your hand if you ran your fingers along it. His neck was short compared to Ai's, but long necks were meant for beauty. Rin was not a man with many beautiful features. Over all, Rin's features were strong, sharp, and edgy. His appearance was fiery as his soul. He was meant to be marvelled, and Ai marvelled at him every day from the very moment they met. The overbearing strength of Rin's entire complexion drew him in like prey to an angler fish again, and again. Only, Ai knew that Rin would not swallow him up, even if he had teeth sharp enough to eat a man alive.  
  
Rin eventually glanced back him, and shared a sweet smile. Ai, too, grinned back, his shoulders lifting shyly. For every thing about him that was overbearing and marvellous, when Rin was happy, he became the most beautiful person on earth. Ai wished he could encompass so many magnificent traits that revealed themselves equally in due time. It wasn't long until they reached where the event would be held.  
  
Nagisa was the only one to meet them in the entrance area of the arena, leaping at them and pulling them both into a hug. "Nagisa, get off!"  
  
"No!!! Rin-chan never lets me hug him!!" Nagisa then let go of Ai and wrapped his arms around Rin's neck like oversized jewellery. "Ahhh, I'm so proud of you!!"  
  
Ai pulled his hand over his mouth to laugh at Nagisa. Over the last few months, Nagisa had grown too, but he was still shorter than Ai. He was likely around three or four centimetres shorter than Ai still. Nagisa didn't admit to being as short, however, claiming a whole five extra centimetres, and if anyone tried to argue with him, he would not listen.  
  
"Nagisa, I said get OFF!!"  
  
"Boo!! Fine, I'll just hug Ai-chan instead!" And he did, instead putting his arms under Ai's and drawing him in at the chest. "I hug perfectly, right, Ai-chan?" He whispered just loud enough for Rin to hear.  
  
"Er, yes, but please, Nagisa-kun, I'd like if you didn't call me that!" Of all of them, Nagisa was the most willing to hug, and honestly was good at it. But Ai cared more about his name not being butchered; yet Nagisa cared more about the hug.  
  
"Seeee? Even your boyfriend likes my hugs better, Rin-chan."  
  
"Would you shut up already?!" Rin's voice growled lowly, menacingly. Both of the boys, normally so used to Rin's rage, felt surprised.  
  
Ai blinked a moment, and then eased Nagisa back to look at him. "Uh, Nagisa, we ought to talk later." Though Nagisa was surprised, he agreed just the same. Tactful he was not, but Nagisa was generally respectful of matters that seemed more serious. Rin looked away irritably, and Ai watched him with a frown. Redness swelled up in his boyfriend's cheeks regardless. It must feel weird to deny their relationship even this far into it, Ai rationalized. Ai had to accept it; Rin didn't have the same obligation. On one hand, perhaps it was something Rin preferred, for Ai knew that he was not comfortable with his own affections; on the other hand, perhaps Rin's prideful nature wished to boast that he was in love. Ai was hopeless to read Rin.  
  
"Will you guys be sitting with Samezuka, then?" Nagisa asked, looking at each of them.  
  
"I have to, they're my team." He pauses, and sighs a little. "I can probably shove them off on Sousuke for a bit though. I doubt he'll give a fuck. Why don't you check out our heats and I'll go talk to him?" Ai nodded with a smile. "Great. Catch you later."Nagisa, obtuse and ecstatic, waved large and joyously at Rin, while Ai kept his wave small and reserved. He wished then that he had the safety and comfort to give a parting kiss to his boyfriend.  
  
 As soon as Rin was out of sight, Nagisa span towards him and drew him in near, looking frantic, and shouted: "Did you break up??" The blood rushed out of Ai's face. Ai blurted out in answer: "N-no, of course not!!" Oh! What a misunderstanding!!  
  
Nagisa felt terrible the entire way to the locker rooms about his presumptuous remark about Ai and Rin. It wasn't even that colossal a mistake, and Ai insisted it was perfectly fine. "Senpai and I are doing very well," Ai confessed, blushing slightly. He thoughtlessly recalled Rin sprawled out on his back, heaving air out as he smoothed his hand over Ai's leg. Actually, he probably shouldn’t let his mind wander like that when he's with other people. Ai texted Rin their times, lanes, and heats, and then glanced around to see if there was anyone they knew there. No; so he walked along with Nagisa following near. "We, uh… He was upset because we're not really talking about us."  
  
"Rin-chan's embarrassed, eh?" Nagisa cajoled.  
  
"N-no…" and Nagisa's smirk was gone all at once. "I'm… worried they'll move us out of our room because of it, and that my parents might find out. I'm worried about how they'll react."  
  
"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that, Ai-chan."  
  
"It's okay..! I might just be over precautious," he simpered anxiously. "When school is a little closer to ending, I'll tell them. For now it's just safer this way."  
  
"But by then, won't Rin be moving away?"  
  
"…Yes, it's likely."  
  
The conversation died with another of Nagisa's apologies, for, like Rin, he was no good at consoling people. Ai appreciated his company and concern no less. They walked for a time, talking idly about the upcoming events, until they entered the locker rooms. Ai took a locker near the far back corner of the room, as was his custom. Nagisa sat quietly on a nearby bench, looking around quietly, until his entire body jolted up, and he hooted: "Oh!!! I never told you, did I?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I have a girlfriend!!"  
  
Nagisa's eyes lit up like rubies, and Ai startled at the shocking reveal. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago Nagisa…-No, it really wasn't that strange that Nagisa did have a girlfriend. A month spanned between Rin realizing he liked Ai to kissing him for the first time. Love wasn't exactly dependant on time. Nagisa, without more than a single question, immediately went on about her, describing her at lengths he didn't even know how to convey. It was as though he were writing poetry on the spot, but knew nothing of the proper rhetoric. Still, as he spoke, Ai got the gist of it. Ai remembered her from Nagisa's description -a pink haired girl with large glasses- and he smiled as he remembered watching Nagisa talk with her outside the Iwatobi school. She was new to the school, as Rei had deduced, and didn't have many friends outside a few girls in her class. She liked gardening and was part of the literature club. He complained that she often called him unpleasant, but quickly adjusted himself to say it was just her way of showing affection. He looked absolutely twitterpated, his enthusiasm glowed.  
  
Finally, he settled down, uttering gently, "I'm really happy she said yes." Ai expressed his belief in Nagisa, but after that it became quiet between the two of them, Ai getting the last of his clothes on. "Hehe, I'm glad you and Rin-chan didn't break up, though," he whispered as Ai pulled his swim trunks on. "It would have been really awkward to tell you all that otherwise, especially with how excited I was to tell you!!"  
  
"Hah, y-yeah, it would be, wouldn't it? No, Senpai and I are doing fine. He, ah, asked me to go meet his mother sometime soon, too!" Ai smiled gently as he spoke. "I'm pretty nervous about that, but I guess it means something that Rin wants me to know his family. Wouldn't it?"  
  
Nagisa smiled with assurance. "I think so!! Mako-chan would probably be able to say better what it meant, since Mako-chan knows him best, but I guess that would be a hard thing to bring up out of nowhere, especially if he didn't think you were going to last." Ai looked like he was finished changing, and Nagisa continued the conversation elsewhere. "Does that mean you two have had sex yet?"  
  
Ai slammed the locker closed five times harder than he meant to, shaking the entire row of lockers and causing a lot of the other boys in the bathroom to look at him. Ai turned left and right, blushing wildly. "Is that a yes??" Nagisa pressed gently. Ai would never understand why a subject like this was of any interest to Nagisa. Then again, Ai didn't really talk about these things to anyone in the first place; even with Rin he was shy.  
  
"You shouldn't ask questions s..so forwardly!! I…. our warm up is soon, a-and I really need to go shower for it. I'll see you after the ceremony!!" And with that, Ai buzzed away. Nagisa only pouted; he honestly just wanted to talk about relationship stuff longer, having no one else to gossip with.  
  
Rin and Ai didn't talk while they warmed up. Ai needed to stretch himself as much as he possibly could before his event. It was better to be used to the water. As he stood, trying to psyche himself up, he pumped his fists beneath the water, remembering Rin's encouraging words from the day before. It wasn't until the end of the warm up, as Ai pulled himself last out of the pool, that he saw Rin, who squatted down to look at him drawing himself onto the deck. "Feeling alright?" Rin asked, his head lolling to the right.  
  
Ai beamed, nodding eagerly. "Yes, Senpai!" He could have leaned forward easily and kissed Rin right here and now if he wanted – and he did want to, but more than that he would rather not risk being seen.  
  
"Great. Opening ceremony is in a minute here, so pull your sweats on." Ai hoisted himself up and followed quickly after Rin, who had placed his bags besides Ai's. He caught Rin stealing glances as they gathered their things. Ever since they became roommates, long before a relationship bloomed between them, they had been close like this, and no one would have thought twice of Rin placing his things besides Ai's, but Ai recognized the significance of it. It warmed his heart. Rin tapped Ai's shoulder, bringing him out of the daze. "Hey, we need to line up, c'mon."  
  
Afterward, they walked together toward the locker room, where they ran into Makoto and Haru half way. They looked absorbed with each other, their shoulders pressed into the wall as their hands covertly touched, and Rin thought maybe they would walk by without being noticed, but Makoto (ever aware), picked his head up and called to Rin.  
  
"Hey! We were hoping you'd walk this way. Haru and I just wanted to wish you luck."  
  
"Makoto did," Haru corrected.  
  
"C'mon, don't be like that. Haru was the one who said we should wait." Ai chuckled a bit when he saw Haru flick his eyes away. "It sounds like you guys are in the last two heats, I bet there's a good chance that both of you will go on to nationals. Kind of exciting; I'm pretty nervous for both of you!"  
  
Rin smirked, a look that belonged so classically on his lips. "Yeah well that makes one of us. I'd like to see the competition even try to get past us." Five fingers popped up. "Lane five."  
  
"Doesn't mean you should take the other lanes lightly," Haru said with his head bowed, then flashed his eyes at Rin.  
  
"We'll just see about that, but you know how history repeats itself? Just because we're not side by side doesn't mean I'm not still racing to whoop your ass."  
  
"N-now, now," Makoto interjected, waving a single hand slightly. "Save the competition for the water. We'll see you guys afterwards. ..Good luck, Rin."  
  
"Yeah," Haru muttered, "good luck."  
  
Ai had to go to the locker rooms on his own. Though Sousuke had helped him with his breaststroke, it was all an effort to improve his chances of being on the relay. With Rin, Ai had managed to improve his distance swimming. So though he had lost to Nagisa at regionals, Ai was glad that he was able to at least advance in his own way. He wished Rin would have come with him, but as it sounded, he had something he needed to talk to Makoto and Haru privately about something. Ai figured that, with as many heats as there were after his own, he would have time to watch his boyfriend swim. That, for him, was exciting. Checking the time after he pulled his clothes on, he realized that he had a little extra time still, but wanted to be early, and headed out with his few things.  
  
But oh! No! With the pool just in sight, Ai's eyes widened when realization hit him, patting his collarbone nearly two thirds of the way there, then his head. How could he have forgotten his goggles?! So much for early, Ai turned on his heels and ran quick as he could back to the locker room, shoving the door open thoughtlessly, only to find that it opened with a very large thunk. "Son of a fuck!!" followed.  
  
Ai startled, his eyes even wider than they were before. Before him a swimmer held his nose, swearing like a sailor. Ai felt too startled to speak, so struck by the whirlwind of instances that led him up to this moment. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" A second voice came, and Ai turned toward him, rigid with fear.  
  
"I-I'm sorry!!!" he gasped. "I was just coming to get my gogg-"  
  
"So you think you've got the right to just throw open all the doors you want because you forgot something??"  
  
"N-No," he didn't know what to say or do, futilely repeating himself: "I-I'm so very sorry; I didn't know you were there!" He raised his hands as if to defend himself from them, which made them leer all the more. A hand stretched out, Ai saw blood dripping over the strangers lip. Shadows closed in on him then, and he suddenly felt fearful - for good reason. The hand grabbed his goggles, shoving him back, and he stumbled into the lockers, before he felt that same hand pressed against his collar bone and it pinned him where he stood. He realized then exactly what terrible people he was dealing with, and even knowing how much trouble he was in, he became paralysed with fear. Water filled his eyes, and his throat tightened. "Looks like he's about to head out to swim," observed his assailant, sneering at Ai.  
  
"Yeah," agreed his friend. "Look at this kid, he's all muscly. Bet he's in the last heat, by the looks of him."  
  
Ai wanted to scream, but couldn't find his voice. He stared only with large eyes forward at these two men. Bullies; competitive ones. He failed to process their words as well, he didn't even know he was crying until he had it pointed out: "Look at him! Bawling like a baby. It would be a shame if he got disqualified for not showing up, huh?" Blood still gushed from the offended one's nose as he spoke. Ai shook his head, grabbing the man's wrist. It was too late, his voice was lost to him and his strength depleted. He saw a hand rise, and he clenched his teeth, tears squirting out as he squeezed his eyes shut.  
  
He fell to the ground on impact, gasping. He hadn't been hit in the face in a long time, but he felt dizzy and confused and shaken. Another sound brought him to life -the sound of the locker room opening again- and he turned his head in horror, expecting that more of them were coming to do him in. But it wasn't, and when he realized who it was, he gasped. "Sousuke-senpai!"  
  
Each bully turned their head to get a glimpse of the icy fire that burned in Sousuke's eyes. It didn't take long for Sousuke to figure what had happened here, and he grabbed the smaller of the two (a twig compared to Sousuke's gigantic figure), screaming in his face: "Who they hell do you think you are?!" His eyes squinted, his teeth bared.  
  
"What the fuck?!"  
   
"Senpai, please-!" Ai tried to stand, reaching out to stop Sousuke from hurting anyone.  
  
"No! You go to your heat! Move it!" He turned toward Ai, burning with rage, but not for long before the other friend grabbed Sousuke to get him off. Ai jumped, hesitated, and with overwhelming reluctance, took his goggles and ran out of the locker room. As he ran, recollection of the expression in Sousuke's face haunted him. Someone unfamiliar with Sousuke might think that he was angry but… Ai remembered something more pained. Sousuke was in pain then; was his arm acting up?  
  
Ai arrived and check in was, supposedly, already over by a dozen seconds. He was so shaky and nervous as he blabbered out his excuse, barely understandable though a series panicked tears. The man in charge of check-in stared at him, a little boggled, and reasonably concerned. Once Ai had ceased to talk entirely, the man spoke: "did you get hit in the face?" Ai reluctantly nodded, biting his lip so hard he could have easily drawn blood. The man sighed, leaned in, and whispered to him: "Just don't tell anyone, huh? And talk to me afterwards, if there's fighting going on." Ai wanted to leap across and hug the stranger as tightly and as warmly as he could, but he didn't have time for that. Instead, he sputtered out the sloppiest expression of gratitude he knew how to give, head bowed so low you'd think he'd met royalty.  
  
Filling his chair in the very middle, he looked up and down the row, it appeared that everyone was attendance. He thought nervously of the person who had hassled him, wondering if he would be absent for his heat to come. Or perhaps he was from an entirely different event all together? Ai didn't know what to think. He pressed his hand against his cheek, slowly feeling the pain swelling up under his skin. His hand jerked away and he clenched his fists. Calming down was the most important thing right now; or he tried to tell himself that. He felt, however, stricken by guilt for leaving Sousuke in such a dangerous predicament, and feared for his friend. He hoped that Sousuke would be okay when the relay started.  
  
He saw the scores fill up the board as swimmers assertively hit the wall. He would be up soon. His heart pounded from the overwhelming feeling of everything that was happening. He looked up at the seats, scouring quickly for Iwatobi. Nagisa leaned over the side, waving just in time for Ai to catch him, and he cupped his hands over his mouth and called out to Ai. Makoto stood behind him, and Rei before him. Ai smiled, calming just a bit now; if Makoto was up there, then that would mean Rin should be watching him soon also. A half minute more, and the final swimmer touched the wall. It seemed whoever was in the side lane had an incident, and Ai watched them crawl out of the water, gasping for air, swearing and punching the deck. Everyone else crawled out together, plainly. Nobody here would make it to nationals, Ai observed, so there was little excitement for them. Ai, on the other hand, had some chance, if he swam better than he ever had before. The nerves that strangled his belly hinted to him that he would do poorly.  
  
The next set of swimmers was called up, and Ai pressed forward to step to the starting block. He pulled his goggles over his eyes, and quickly tightened them around his head. Air gently moved past his lips as he tried to relax once more. He wished Rin were watching him. He had such a wonderful boyfriend. He thought of Rin, and in turn remembered the strange kindness Sousuke had showed him. By the extension of his relationship with Rin, Sousuke had protected him. No, Ai, crying while wearing goggles awas not a good idea. He lifted his goggles, smeared his hands over his eyes, and braced himself as he put them back in place. He needed to get his head in the game pronto.  
  
They were called onto the starting blocks, and in union all swimmers stepped up to the top. Ai pressed his left foot down behind him, looking left and right. Nothing. "On your mark!" all at once every one stooped down.  
  
"Get set." Tension welled up inside him. Thoughtlessly, he turned his head to see if maybe Rin was there. The sight of a red head running up made him pause, and his body loosened. It's him! "Go!!"  
  
Ai snapped his head forward and pushed off. Water rushed over him, and he immediately felt cold as ice. His body wormed until it broke the surface, and drawing his first huge breath of air, he saw on his right that he was behind. He started late. Oh, was he mad at himself; after all the training that he had done, he would sell himself short like this?! -But no, he couldn't let himself get mad. Rin told him time and time again, if you let your emotions get the better of you, you lose. Of course Rin spoke from experience. He stretched his arms out as far as they could go, trying to hold his breath for more strokes than he might normally, immediately becoming conscious of his every part of his body. He needed to do well, at least for Rin. At least do well for Rin so that Rin would be proud. He wanted Rin to brag about him. He wanted to beat everyone in the heat.  
  
A miracle to say the least, he was tied with only one for first. Rin, for the first time since Ai plummeted into the water, shouted though his cupped hands: "Ai, go!!!" Ai took his last heaping breath of air several strokes before the end of the lane to cut down on time. He wanted so badly to win. In union, their hands met the wall, and Ai burst from the water, taking a heaping breath. He panted at the wall, grasping at the gutter and staring as the water splashed into and over it. His head turned hastily to his right, smiled with relief when he saw Rin standing there, and then glanced up. Second place. He got second. He wouldn’t go to nationals, but it felt good.  
  
Those in the end lanes splashed in after them soon after, and after Ai shook the hand of the young man he struggled against and congratulated him, he stared over at his boyfriend with a small smile. He did better than he thought he would; he did better than he ever had before.  
  
After Ai crawled out of the water, he hurried across the pool deck, toward his boyfriend who had slunk slightly back into the shadows. Joining him, they were harder to see now, and he paused, his body bustling with excitement as Rin stared calmly at him. Finally, Rin smiled at him. "Congrats." His arm stretched out, ruffling his lover's hair, who burst into tears and proceeded to leap forward.  
  
"Thank you!!"     
  
The events that followed, however, were strange. Haru quit in the middle of his race. Sousuke was nowhere to be found. Rin had been too busy reporting the fight after what had happened to Ai. He was assured that the two swimmers would be disqualified for their behaviour, and Ai didn't know if he felt glad that justice was served, or sad that there were people like that in the world. At the very least, Ai felt guilty, because if he hadn't angered these boys, none of this would have happened. "Ai, don't be an idiot," Rin hissed. "If someone is being irrational, it's their fault. You did nothing." Ai wanted to pull Rin away and cry into him for a while; Ai hated that kind of violence.  
  
Sousuke didn't reappear until minutes before the race, where Rin yelled at and cursed him for being so late, but cut himself short when he looked at his friend. Not only was his shoulder bruised, but everything else about him. Sousuke stared, eyes dead as ever, and Ai watched him from his spot beside Momo. Sousuke getting hurt, Ai deduced, was also his fault; Rin's words from before refused to work on him. After Rin's worry settled in, the tall, gloomy young man smiled at his best friend: "I'm alright." But only alright; they easily placed second, Sousuke's injuries dragging them behind just enough to lose their chance against Iwatobi. Ai stared at the team beside them, who cheered and celebrated their victory. They would all eight go to nationals, sure, but... Ai's gaze travelled to Sousuke, who held his shoulder and winced in pain.  
  
After everything, Sousuke was brought to the hospital, and told it was best he sit in for the next day or two to give himself time to heal. His shoulder was worse than ever, and he said he'd prefer if they left him for a while – he could get back to the hotel on his own. It would be a few hours yet before Sousuke would be let out. Momo had to go, he had already made plans to meet with his brother for dinner. Rin and Ai were left alone for a time.  
  
"Do you feel alright, senpai?" He asked Rin eventually.  
  
"Worried. I didn't think they'd beat him up that bad he'd be hospitalized for a bit."  
  
"Ah…" He opened his mouth as if to say something but glanced away. "I… I don't think it was totally their fault he's there."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"You should talk to Sousuke later. I think… he's likely to be ready to tell you something." Rin's head tipped curiously, ready to ask a question, but Ai startled at his phone vibrating. He looked, and again, was surprised. "Oh! It's Nagisa. They're inviting us to dinner."  
  
"Let's do it. Sousuke sounds like he needs time alone anyway." He glanced down the hall of the ground floor, and sighed slowly.  
  
At dinner, they clicked their sodas together and exclaiming passionately. Haru, Rin, and even Makoto would be going to nationals individually. Ai felt strange, not having done as well as the others. He was happy to have placed as high as he did. Rin gave up Ai's persistence to keep their relationship private while they celebrated, and kissed him silent when Ai tried too hard to speak too modestly of himself. "Shut up about the put down stuff, huh? You're the comeback king," He added at the end of the kiss, and Ai blushed, returning to his meal with a flustered feeling in his belly.  
  
"With how you performed today, Ai-kun, I'm sure you'll be in the final heat next year," Rei assured. "If you persist to increase your talent at the same rate you have been, I'd say it's mathematically guaranteed."  
  
"I hope so. I want to be able to go with you two next year," Ai admitted to Nagisa and Rei.  
  
"Mm! At least, I hope we can make it that far!!"  
  
"What will you two be doing tonight," Rei asked after the conversation broke away from swimming.  
  
"Uh, Ai wanted to watch some show. The hell was it called, Corporal Toad?"  
  
"Sergeant Frog." Ai rolled his eyes a bit. Rin definitely knew the name of the show; Ai had introduced him to it, and later realized Rin was much more into it than he liked to admit.  
  
"Yeah, that. Ai watches a lot of that stuff, apparently."  
  
"Really," Rei looked sincerely interested. "What else do you watch, Ai-kun?" The conversation didn't get far, before-  
  
"Oh, that reminds me!  Ah, Mako-chan!" Nagisa piped up, suddenly drawing the attention of everyone. Nagisa looked embarrassed, and spoke in a hushed tone. "If you and Haru-chan have sex tonight, you should be quieter. You woke both me and Rei up last night."  
  
Makoto turned redder than a hot iron as his boyfriend beside him casually tipped his bowl further over his face and guzzled down rice.  "S…sorry!!!" The gentle giant blurted, and the rest of them had to laugh.  
  
It turned out that Rei and Ai had a great deal more in common with each other than they'd originally thought, which left Rin out of the loop for once. He managed to slip in with Makoto and Haru and talk with them, but Nagisa's constant confusion about why Makoto played "lame" video games like Super Mario Sunshine made the conversation difficult to partake in. Personally, Rin thought Makoto did own some pretty lame games, but he also doubted Makoto could easily handle the more "cool" games out there. The guy was way too jumpy, he'd probably cry playing Grand Theft Auto. They parted on a good, friendly note, complete with hugs and well wishes.  
  
Once inside the hotel room, Ai was quick to play the show on his portable DVD player while Rin prepared himself for bed, and then, once it was playing and Rin had finished, Ai did his own nightly routine. As he did so, he sat down on the bed near Rin, his body turned so that he could watch the show, his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth as he chuckled. He'd already seen this whole series once, and figured Rin might like it at least a little bit. Rin smiled at some of the jokes, sometimes insulting the humour despite being amused by it himself. Ai pushed away from the bed to spit out the froth and clean his mouth out. Soon he crawled into the bed beside Rin and clung to his boyfriend as they continued watching. His fingers danced around Rin, not paying as much attention to the show as he would by himself, as it was still hard to resist the urge to fiddle with Rin when they rested together.  
  
"How's your cheek, by the way?"  
  
"Hm? Oh, it's fine, "Ai muttered, absently touching it. "It still hurts a little bit. "  
  
"Sorry that happened to you," he whispered, turning to look at Ai. Ai smiled up at him, and Rin turns his gaze away again. "Sounds like Sousuke had his ass handed to him until a few others intervened. We're just lucky Sousuke followed code enough not to get us disqualified. If those assholes hadn't done that, we might have won, too – what a pain in the ass. What the hell did you do even to piss those guys off?"  
  
"I, uhm, accidentally opened the door in one of their faces," Ai scratched his cheek. "I don't remember a lot of it, I think they were mad, and the guy sounded like he thought he could get rid of competition by beating me up."  
  
"Wow. Wow, who the fuck even does that?" asked Rin with a scoff. "Sousuke made it sounded like you punched the guy; you sure you didn't punch the guy?" Ai chuckled briefly, but stopped when he heard Rin's following sentence: "I worried you were picking up my bad habits or something."  
  
Ai offered his nervous smile to his boyfriend, one he always gave when he wanted Rin to be comforted. "You're not that bad, you know, Senpai. You used to get angry a lot, but you never hurt me. I think that's important."  
  
"…Whatever. I'm just glad you're not hurt badly. I really hope those fuckers had their entire week ruined," his voice trailed away, but tacked on "assholes" under his breath before returning his attention to the series. In the end, Ai couldn't find himself able to devote the same kind of attention to the show as Rin did, completely absorbed in Rin's body. Every now and then he would glance up to see Rin smiling at the show that he still denied enjoying. His hand softly stroked Rin's side, gradually moving lower and lower until he stroked Rin's thigh. Rin's smile disappeared in time, and finally he reached over and turned the show off. "You probably want to do it, huh?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, I…" His eyes dart away. "M..aybe?"  
  
"Don't even deny it; you always start touching me a lot when you want to do it."  
  
"O-oh. I'm sorry!" Rin only smirked and told him he shouldn’t apologize for everything. Rin wanted to 'do it', too. They got up, Rin going into their bag for condoms and dropped them on the bedside table -they never used them- and then grabbed the tissues from the bathroom. Ai moved across the bed to set the DVD player aside, and pushed down the blankets. When Rin turned his attention to his boyfriend again, Ai sat with his hands behind his back, shirt off, knees spread apart, and waiting for Rin to crawl over him. For a few weeks now they had been having sex, often as they could without impeding on their daily lives. Ai had become used to some of these movements. Not all of them, however, but most of them; every now and then Ai would remember with flushed cheeks the one time Rin tried to put a finger inside of him, and having to turn him away. Ai wasn't ready, and Rin respected that.  
  
To Rin, it was surprising how things had moved along. There had been a time he was unsure if he really would stay with Ai very long; a feeling stemming from his old belief he was exclusively into women. His favourite qualities about Ai were always those that seemed most feminine to him, though, his long neck and polite waist. He had large eyes filled with the calmest sea, long eye lashes that fluttered when he looked at Rin. His skin was so fair he could have disappeared into snow unnoticed. And when he looked at Rin as Rin crawled over him, his eyes pinched together, his cheeks became large and red, his pale lips curled, and his clean white teeth sparkled behind them. How could Rin resist a beautiful man like him?  
  
Ai's long fingers trailed up Rin's arm as Rin settled himself between his lover's legs, kissing him until he was lying flat on his back. It had become so natural and normal for Ai to lie like this, the pressure of Rin's mouth against his own. Rin wasn't a surprising lover: he rarely did things differently than he did the time before. The movements just became more and more refined each time. He started at the lips, very practiced kisses that they'd done hundreds of times, keeping Ai's lower lip between his more often than not. Then came the sweeping motion of the tongue. And finally the bites that dragged over his lip, and Rin was all teeth.  He paced like this from his lips to his neck, letting Ai simply breathe under him.  
  
"S-senpai, not so high," Ai whispered when Rin dragged his teeth just below his jaw. They still had a long bus ride to take into account, and Rin was sloppy and forgetful when he was horny. Rin groaned, kissing down his boyfriend's neck until he was sure Ai couldn't get upset with him. Hands weeded into his red locks, and Ai gazed with half lidded eyes at the ceiling. He felt soothed. "…hah, I said senpai again, didn't I?" He blushed.  
  
"Yeah," Rin lifted his head slightly as he spoke, "but it's annoying to correct you all the time."  
  
"I know, I'm sorry." He smiled gently. "I should know that it's Rin who touches me like this, and not any upperclassman."  
  
"Tch, don't go getting corny on me, I'll reconsider giving you a blowjob." Ai's cheeks brightened, visible even in their dark bedroom. His eyes were wild and his lips parted slightly as he sat up to look at Rin. Rin pulled away, annoyed again. "What? You'll like it."  
  
"N-no, it's nothing like that! You're just so forward…"  
  
Rin smirked as he sat up, his fingers hooking into Ai's pants. "Yeah? Then how would you have said it?"  
  
"Ah? I-I don't know?"  
  
Rin slipped Ai's pants out from under his butt and gently ran his hand along his legs as the clothes were pulled up and off. "C'mon, Ai, you dirty texted me the whole way here while the whole team was around. It's just us now."  
  
"That's writing though, it's easier to write than talk…"  
  
Rin reached back, letting Ai's pants hit the ground in an unceremonious plop. He guided Ai's legs around his waist once more, crawled forward, and kissed Ai sweetly on the lips. "Just close your eyes and write out loud, then, huh? So tell me," he whispered as he reached back to pull his own pants away, "how would you say it?" Their tongues flicked together, and when Rin moved away to crawl out of his pants, Ai watched him until his eyes finally drifted closed. When Rin leaned back over him, Ai felt his cock drop onto his stomach, and Rin dipped his head back into the groove of Ai's neck.  
  
"I'd, uh, probably say I had a surprise," he muttered as he contemplated the situation. "A-a present for doing so well today. And that it was something only you could have or see."  
  
"And how?" Ai begged him to elaborate. "How would you go about it?" Kissing Ai's throat, he felt Ai's laughter. He couldn’t do that while Rin was kissing him like that, Ai protested, but Rin urged he try. His hands kneaded back into Rin's hair.  
  
Ai's storytelling skills were sloppy under pressure. He 'um'ed a lot, and paused to take in sharp breaths as Rin went along. Sometimes he moaned midsentence and forgot where he was. Nothing could be said when Rin finally started to catch up on Ai's envisioned encounter, his lips suckling Ai's nipple as his hand rubbed circles into the other. By then Rin didn't pester him for the story. He wanted to listen to Ai wheezing from arousal. He leaned back. "You wanna watch? Or just lay there? --Get up on the pillows then."  
  
As soon as Ai complied, Rin kissed him, then his neck, followed by his chest, next his belly where the fur around Ai's groin scratched his chin. He had to shift to bring himself lower, and kissed Ai's inner thigh while his hand softly teased Ai's balls. His boyfriend became a little tense, but Rin pushed his leg down so it couldn't close on his head. Ai sucked in a slow breath as his boyfriend gently pressed lips against his dick, and then again, a little higher that the last. A quiver of excitement rushed through Ai when Rin finally licked the head of his length. The rough texture of tongue felt so strange, but he couldn't object. Instead a reluctant moan slipped out twice. His own hand smoothed over his belly.  
  
It took Rin a minute to work up the will to part his lips wide enough to bring the head into his mouth, kissing it and licking away the precome in the meantime, but when he finally wrapped his lips around, Ai heaved a colossal sigh. His head arched back, then he looked down, spotted Rin's free hand, and reached out to squeeze it. His mind turned to mush as Rin bobbed his head up and down at his groin, moaning his name heavily, Rin. The heat in Ai's hips was more phenomenal than any he'd had before. He felt full to bursting; he hoped Rin would touch him like this for the rest of their lives. And Rin loved it. Every now and then he would glance up to see Ai, completely strung out as he were. His cheeks burned red, his eyes struggled to stay focused. Ai looked hot.  
  
Despite Ai's well timed warning, Rin didn't pull away to avoid a mouth full of come, sucking every last drop of it out from his boyfriend, then, with tissue wadded up against his mouth, spat it out. He swore with displeasure, then glanced to Ai as he panted. He never looked so over the edge than this moment, his eyes hooded and heaving breaths, and Rin leaned forward to kiss him.  
  
"Your chin's all messy, Rin," Ai panted and dragged his teeth over his upper lip. "Do you want me to do you?"  
  
"No. Just do what you always do." Ai made no complaint, and let Rin burry his face into Ai's neck as Ai hurriedly brought Rin to his peak.  
  
Two weeks later, Rin got his letter from Australia. Together they laid in bed, Rin's lap making for a great pillow as Ai tried to read, but he gave up after a while and listened to Rin muse about moving to Australia. He asked if Ai wanted to go with him during the break, but Ai said that his parents would never allow it. "Figures," he said with a scoff, but Ai ignored it. He didn't like that Rin badmouthed his parents, but he didn't have it in him to correct and pout at Rin. But when Rin pursued his complaints, Ai excused himself to the bathroom, returned soon after, grabbed his book, and moved up to his own bed. Rin had learned that if Ai went to bed without a good night kiss, Ai was probably upset with him. And that could be more infuriating than necessary. He dropped his letter on the floor after a while, they said their goodnights, and he went to sleep upset. He believed Ai was upset with him for a stupid reason, like the trip to Australia.    
  
In the morning, however, Rin woke up to find the letter had been picked up and placed on his desk, a sticky note attached to it: Someday I want to see Australia with you! (:  
  
Rin stared at the note and realized that even when they argued, Ai still loved him. Even if he was mad at Rin, he would still do little things for him. He wished he knew how to express those same feelings back, letting his fingers draw over the edges.  
  
A strange phone call came the following evening, and Ai stared as Rin picked up his phone. "Makoto?" But as the conversation went on, Rin's eyes grew larger and larger. "Did something happen? …Fuck. You're fucking kidding me right? That asshole, he-" Rin cut himself off, nodding, teeth bared with sharp irritation. "Sorry. I didn't think he'd be like that." Ai sat up, drawn to the distress in his boyfriend's voice.  "You want me to come over? –Alright, I'll talk to him. Stay breezy." He hung up, looking to Ai uncertainly, not sure if he should explain, or leave it be. "Sounds like they broke up at the festival." His eyes moved away, pinching the phone in his hand. "What a week." The strange sorrow in Rin's eyes spoke more of just worry for his friends. Ai felt that it made no sense for those two to ever be anything but in love.  
  
In the morning, just before their club meeting, Rin handed Ai a present. "I was going to give you this later but things are weird. You know that I'm heading to Australia for the week, but I'm going to be gone longer than I expected."  
  
"Huh? Oh! You'll be talking to your old coach right?"  
  
"Hopefully, but there's other things I have to do, too. Things with Haru are worse than I thought from what Makoto was saying. I need you to be in charge the day the meet starts, since I'll be gone until that morning."    
  
"But what about Sousuke? Normally he-"  
  
"Fuck, Sousuke." Though these words weren't meant for Ai, it still pained him to hear. He thinks back to a week before, coming back into the locker rooms to hear the two best friends fighting. So it was true; Rin did find out about Sousuke's injury. Ai supposed it didn't matter, after the fight that Sousuke had with those boys in the locker room, it was unlikely that Sousuke would be well enough to continue swimming for nationals. Rin peeked around, kissed Ai's cheek, and continued. "You'll be fine. Everyone on this team respects you." Ai smiled gratefully.  "C'mon, meeting time."  
  
Afterward, Rin and Sousuke left on their own together; they seemed in good spirits, and Ai was glad to see the two friends getting along despite everything that was happening between them. Ai was fond of Sousuke; he thought Sousuke was a good friend for Rin. They bounced off each other well, and he stared and was glad to see that even if Rin was mad at Sousuke now, that they were still getting along. Ai was ready to head up to his own room to grab his things that he'd forgotten, but was cut short by his vibrant underclassman. "Senpaiiii! Wait a minute, wait a minute! Can we walk to the train station together?"  
  
A smile lined Ai's face. "Yeah, sure. I still need to get my stuff upstairs, though, is that okay?"  
  
"Oh, that isn't it?" His finger, flat and long, bent until it pointed at the gift in Ai's hand, his lips puckered with curiosity, until finally his head dropped down to eye the gift. Momo was always peculiar with his movements. Ai looked down also, and shook his head.  
  
"It's a gift from Rin." He beamed, forgetting his manners. Momo immediately looked alert, excited.  
  
"A gift?! What's inside? Did he say? Can I see? Why'd Rin-senpai get you a gift?!"  
  
"Ah! Momo-kun, please don't poke at my package." Though Ai drew it away from Momo's curious fingers, Ai became overly curious himself, looking down at the wrapping. It was very plain wrapping paper, Ai thought, and he hesitated for a moment. Maybe it was a gift from Rin that was supposed to be private? But feeling the package again, he had a feeling he knew what might be inside – or at least what nature of gift it was. "I guess it's okay to open now. Senpai didn't say anything against it." He plucked politely at the paper with Momo hovering near, soon gray fabric exposed itself and together, when the gift was held out in front of them, their mouths and eyes were big and sparkling.  
  
"Rin-senpai really got you this cool jacket?! Put it on, put it on!" And so Ai did, and turned around. A jacket like a shark, with teeth that edged the hood, a fin on the back along the spine, and a fin at each elbow. Black "gills" decorated the side, and Ai stretched his arms out and twisted his body to see the back a little better. He looked good twisted like that, and the two boys cheered about the gift. It made them laugh, and Ai couldn't bare the idea of taking off the hoodie for even a moment. When he returned to his parents' house for the break, a quiet lonely place, he slept with the jacket near him. He thought that it smelled like Rin, oddly enough.  
  
Can you take an international call? Ai received the text late into the evening; he'd nearly fallen asleep.  
  
That's fine.  
  
The phone rang, Rin's tender voice on the other side. "Hey good lookin'." Ai could tell his boyfriend was smiling.  
  
"Evening Senpai. How was the flight?"  
  
"Dull. Haru was on the other side of the plane, and I got stuck between snorers."  
  
Surprise colors Ai's response. "Haruka-san is there?"  
  
"Yeah, I figured bringing him out here would give him a better idea about the world. I forget that Makoto and Haru have barely even left Iwatobi, no less Japan. Introduced him to my stay-in parents, and tomorrow we're headed to the pool."  
  
"Oh! That's good." Ai felt jealous immediately, and guilty the next moment; he knew Rin was being plain and honest with him. "Have you talked with your coach?"  
  
"Not yet. I'm talking to him later this week. Problem child comes first." The two of them chuckled together.  
  
"I'm glad. I hope he's able to find his way. I remember you talking about your fight in the locker rooms after his race. Is that what Makoto-san and Haruka-san broke up over, too?"  
  
"Yeah, kind of. Haru's been a drama queen for months if you ask me. I have no idea how Makoto puts up with him.  
  
"I think that's what you do when you love someone."  
  
"…Yeah," he quickly remembers how annoying Ai can be at times; but also how it stopped bothering him a year ago already. "I'm sure if Haru gets his shit together things will be back to the way they ought to be." Rin sighed. "What about you? You holding up alright?"  
  
"Yes, I am. I had a nice dinner with mom and dad, and then tomorrow I'm going to meet with some old friends of mine. It sounds like I can take it easy this week, which I'm glad for. Mom's going to be away, but dad will be around still."  
  
"Sounds fun." The conversation stopped for a moment. "I probably shouldn't keep you up too long. Sorry I can't be with you."  
  
"I'd rather be with you."  
  
"…Right." Embarrassing. "Want me to call again?"  
  
"Call after you talk to your coach, okay? And then I want to hear all about Australia!"  
  
"Alright. Then I'll talk to you then. I lo-" he stops short, nervous about his words. I love you. It seemed right to say but… too scary. Exhaling, he lets the sentence go. "Sleep well."  
  
"You, too." It didn't hit Ai until he hung up, but the pause in their conversation held a totally different meaning. Sleeping would have been easier if his heart hadn't been so noisy.  
  
A week felt like forever. Ai checked his texts daily to see if maybe Rin had left a sweet message for him, but no, nothing to speak of. No doubt his boyfriend was busy, but constantly the young swimmer wanted to grab his phone and call Rin back and talk to him for hours on end. How embarrassing. They've been dating for months now! You'd think by now he would feel less excited to be around Rin, but Ai wanted nothing more than for nationals to come and to feel his lover's embrace again.  And meanwhile, on a different side of the globe, Rin felt more or less the same. He felt weird sharing the bed with Haru, and not with Ai, but he threw less of a stink about the whole thing than he would normally.  
  
The night after Rin talked to his coach he made the phone call, a simple but long exchange, them just catching up. When he finished and hung up, a voice came: "Ai?"  
  
"Huh?" Rin turned, glancing at Haru, before realizing what he meant. "Oh, yeah, just checking in. He's excited about nationals."  
  
"He's excited about something else." Rin grimaced at Haru, but that was like them. Haru rushed his towel over his own hair, letting it fall down on his shoulders and sitting down on his side of the bed. "Things are good?"  
  
What's that supposed to mean? Rin turns around, looking at the back of Haru's head with dubious curiosity. "What's good?"  
  
"Between you and Aiichiro."  
  
Now there's a strange topic, especially coming from Haru. Rin frowns, turning himself until his knee bent over the bed, eyes sharp and deliberate. Something else was on Haru's mind, something besides the love lives of Ai and Rin. If he didn't know Haru like he did, he might have cocked an eyebrow at the strange topic, but the fact that he knew things about Haru that not everyone did is clue enough. "Makoto said you two broke up."  
  
No answer. No movement. No sound came out of either of them for a long time, and Rin wondered if Haru heard him at all. But, soon Rin saw the results of his comment. Haru's shoulders crumpled, and his body jerked slightly. Rin, at first surprised, eventually turned away, uneasy. Rin was already bad at comforting people, Rin barely knew how to deal with his own emotions. How was he supposed to deal with impassive waters turned over? "Haru," he whispers after a time, "It's Makoto. Whatever dumbass thing you did, watch him be the one to apologize first." Whether or not what he said had helped, Rin never figured out. After a few minutes of silence, Haru eventually got up and left the room. Rin didn't see him again until the morning.  
  
He was glad he made sure to call Makoto later; and he was glad Makoto showed up to say hello to them at the airport. Rin watched with leery eyes as the two friends (friends, he thinks with a question mark at the back of his mind) interact again for the first time in far too long. Makoto looked bright and loving as ever. Haru looked troubled. Rin supposed that's the way it had to be, but if he had any brains in his head, he knew the two of them would be fine. Rin smiled and slapped Haru on the back. "I'll leave you lovebirds alone. Tell Rei and Nagisa I said hey." When he glanced back, the two embraced.  
  
But the image remained with him; and it became more complicated over time. Maybe it was wrong or weird to look at Haru and Makoto's relationship and compare it to his own but… maybe it wasn't. Haru did the same, he realized; seeing the success that Rin and Ai had Haru in tears about his failures. He thought of Ai, how some day they would be apart when Rin moved to Australia. Could they make it through that separation? Rin watched jealously as Haru and Makoto walked away from their race at nationals, feeling excited and thrilled with Nagisa and Rei. Haru tapped Makoto's shoulder, then leaned up to kiss Makoto, complete disregard for the many thousands of people who could be watching – maybe more – and he could see Makoto smile back at him when it was done. They were proud of their love.  
  
"Senpai," he heard, and became alert immediately, looking down at Ai as he touched Rin's arm. "We have to go!"  
  
"Right, sorry." With initiative, he led the relay to their lane.  
  
Rin thought of how proud he was of his love for Ai. How he didn't care what people thought of him. He thought surely they could make it through any obstacle as well. 

**Author's Note:**

> Remaining chapters will be up as I finish editing each part of the fic! Should take about a month each. Kudos and comments much loved!


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